Shawn Goulart, 35 years old at the time of the interview, is a captain and deckhand based in Gloucester, MA. Shawn got into recreational fishing as a hobby in his early teens, and then quickly transitioned to commercial fishing, at a time when opportunities were plentiful in Gloucester. Since that time, he has seen the local groundfish fleet shrink, forcing him to spend months away each year fishing out of other East Coast ports to support his two young daughters.

Tim Birarelli, Tom Birarelli, Robbie Budds (ages 21, 18, and 21 at the time of the interview) are lobstermen in Beverly, MA. Tim and Tom grew up lobstering with their father, who passed away when they were in their teens. They continued running and eventually expanding the family fishing businesses, and they supply fresh seafood to their mother's restaurant. Robbie met Tim through a hockey league while in high school, and the two brothers helped him get set up with a lobster boat and taught him everything they know.

Tommy Testaverde, 34 years old at the time of the interview, is captain of his family's dragger, the F/V Midnight Sun, in Gloucester, MA.

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Sebastian Parisi was born in 1940 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  Both sides of Parisi's family emigrated from Italy, and many of his ancestors and relatives worked in the fishing industry.  He graduated from Gloucester High School, worked as a mechanic for cars and diesel boats.   Parisi served as an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force from 1960 to 1964. Later, he earned a teacher's certificate and taught at vocational schools for over twenty years.   

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Al Cottone was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1965.  His parents immigrated from Sicily, and his father was a life-long fishermen.  Cottone graduated from Gloucester High School in 1983, and has been fishing out of Gloucester ever since.  

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Vito Giacalone was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1959.  Vito is a third-generation fisherman in Gloucester, and started in the fishing industry as a youth.  In the late 1980's, Giacalone took a break from fishing to work in construction, until he came back to commercial fishing in 2000.  He serves as the Policy Director for the Northeast Seafood Coalition and President of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund.  He and his wife Jenny own the fishing vessel Jenny G. and Fishermen's Wharf Gloucester.  

Joe Orlando was born in Sicily in 1964.  When he was nine, Joe and his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Gloucester.  After high school, he started fishing with his father.  Six months later, he became a skipper, and has been fishing out of Gloucester ever since.  

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Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken's grandparents immigrated to Gloucester in the 1940's.  Many of her relatives worked in the fishing industry in Gloucester.  Mayor Romeo Theken was married to a commercial fisherman and worked as a fish packer at Gorton's and later for the Addison Gilbert Hospital.  After her husband died, she began to get more involved in the Gloucester community and advocating for fishers.  She became vice president of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association.  Mayor Romeo Theken also earned a B.A.

Rosalie Parco was born in 1926 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Both sides of her family immigrated from Sicily, and included many fishermen. She graduated from Gloucester High School in 1944, and attended Kathleen Dell Secretarial School in Boston.  Then she met her husband, Anthony Parco, founder of Ocean Crest Seafoods and Neptune's Harvest Fertilizer in Gloucester, a family business that is still in operation today.  

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Mark Ring was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1957. He graduated from Manchester High School in 1975. Growing up, Mark's father ran a marina, and he had uncles who were commercial fishermen. He spent his teenage years fishing on a skiff and lobstering with his uncles. After high school, Mark moved to Gloucester and fished - gillnetting and swordfishing - during the 1970s and 1980s. He fished in Mexico, and from the Caribbean to Newfoundland. Since the early 1990s, Mark has been lobstering out of Gloucester. 

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